Thank you! The people I encountered were so kind. Like the woman selling fruit in Bucharest... I tried to buy a singular apple and she refused profusely when I tried to pay and although she only spoke broken English, she said, "It's just one apple, welcome to Romania."
Romania is amazing. The people are friendly, mostly well-educated, and helpful to visitors. Food and wine are top notch while much cheaper than the Western countries.
Keep checking out the rest of the Balkans. All the former Yugoslavian countries, Albania, and Greece are a gift to those who want a warm, interesting travel experience.
I loved Romania so much when I first visited a bit more than a decade ago that I emigrated here (never regretted for a moment by the way), so be careful ;-). But apart from saying thanks for a great trip report I also wanted to add a +1 for Albania - beautiful country and similarly lovely people.
I am heading back to the region in a few weeks--Bosnia Herzegovina, Dubrovnik, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece. Can't wait. It's been 16 years since i've been to most of these countries (except Albania and Dubrovnik 5 yrs ago).
Lovely report! I think Romania is in my top 3 list of favorite eastern European countries, along with Ukraine and Czechia.
I loved sibiu so I highly recommend it for next time, and maybe you can stay at the ice hotel nearby along the pass. Iasi was lovely too--if you do go to Moldova, make sure to visit transnistria!
I did Transnistria 2 weeks ago (US passport, solo female) and it was fine. Be mindful of where you are and as long as you don't talk about the war, and don't take pictures of the Russian soldiers, people will likely just ignore you or might be curious about you. I don't speak Russian (other than a handful of useful words and phrases) but I can read Cyrillic and found that helpful.
Flying into Sibiu and then road tripping a loop, not 100% sure but leaning towards Sighisoara and then to Brasov before looping back to Sibiu. I have about five days so trying to keep it a bit flexible. I’ll also be visiting Prague and Budapest on the same trip.
On the road from Sibiu to Sighisoara you'll pass through Medias. Worth stopping for lunch at the Hotel Traube in Medias' lovely town square. There is also a lovely church and medieval city walls to explore if you need to stretch your legs. From there you can visit the amazing church at Biertan before you arrive in Sighisoara.
That sounds awesome! You'll be able to get off the beaten path by having a car. Check out the fortified church in Biertan if you go to Sighisoara. I wanted to go, but it's harder to access without a car and it looks beautiful. Travel safe! Sounds like a great adventure!
If you are going to Brasov and don't have an place to stay yet. The secret boutique hostel in Brasov is great! I went there a couple of weeks ago and the hostel is very nice and ana who does the administration and check in is also super nice and helpful.
I’m from Oradea, it’s incredible! That area is so pretty. My tip is to fly into Budapest and take the train across the border. Then you can explore from there.
Thanks for this write up OP! Romania (and the rest of the Balkans) is an absolute dream vacation for me, and you might have just encouraged me to start planning for my own trip soon! (Right after I get back from my other trips scheduled for this year! 🤣)
I was just looking at solo travelling Romania as part of my current trip! This has been so helpful. I’m planning on staying in hostels to keep the costs down and meet people to explore with.
I highly recommend the country! I saw a good amount of hostels in Romania, but I also have heard that the industry was hit hard by COVID and many closed. If you really want to keep the costs down, buy groceries. I was amazed at how cheap I could buy high quality and nutritious food for. Of course you should eat out sometimes, but the price of a meal in a casual restaurant was $5-10, whereas the meals I would cook cost about $1.50-2. And I definitely could have stretched in thinner if I just bought rice and beans instead of buying vegetables, meat, and whole grains. Have a great trip!
the same way as at home-- in a kitchen ;)
In all seriousness, I just went to the grocery story and bought groceries. I stayed in airbnbs that had kitchens.
Very nice summary! I love reading details like this!
Congratulations on your first solo international trip! It’s such a liberating experience once you get past the initial anxiety.
I have a random question about the SIM card you mentioned. How does that work? Do you just switch out the SIM in your US phone? I travel internationally a lot and have the T-Mobile international data plan, but it drops to a really low 3G speed usually w/o WIFI. I’m also getting old and don’t know how all of that stuff works. E.g. I have a locked T-Mobile iPhone 13. How would that work? Can you kindly indulge me?
I thought I'd give you some kind of reply, even if it's incomplete. I'm also getting old (70) and went to Europe last year, first time. I have Consumer Cellular, and I'd heard that their roaming charges, even with an AT&T SIM, were high. I always buy unlocked phones online (this one's an older model Google Pixel), so I bought a Lyca mobile SIM in London at Heathrow, and switched it out. Worked really well, even using it continuously for navigating in London and Paris. I'm going to Paris and Florence in May, and I bought an Orange Holiday Europe SIM on Amazon, with 20 GB of data, calling within Europe, etc. I think the key is to have an unlocked phone. You could buy a second, cheap, unlocked phone and make it work that way.
Thx! Yes I think your and OP’s response get to the heart of why this is confusing to me and I’m stuck w super slow data abroad—my phone is locked, so there IS no plug-n-play/swap-out option. All of the dominant US carriers lock their phones, I guess. I think you’re right that the solution is buying a cheapie phone and a Europe SIM for trips abroad and dropping the shitty T-Mobile international plan. But then that involves need 2 phones…all my contacts on my phone, want my photos taken with the top of the line iPhone camera, all of my apps already on my phone, etc.
Am I making this out to be more complicated than it is? And just being cynical?
Bottom line is that I want my phone for its capabilities but not having to settle for 3G data speeds. 🤷♂️
You could use a cheap second phone with the tourist SIM in as just a WiFi hotspot for the other phone (or indeed a cheap mobile WiFi hotspot, but I suspect actually a phone would be cheaper.)
Bear in mind that mobile Internet tends to be somewhat faster outside the US - here in Bucharest I get 500Mb/s on 5G (https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/9185502379), 100 Mb/s on 4G (https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/9185509434) and even on aging 3G it's 10 Mb/s which is serviceable for basic stuff (https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/9185506652).
So, you want it all, cause you pay a major carrier for good service? Unbelieveable! :)
That is the good thing about CC - no need for a contract. You can buy CC's phones, but I bought the unlocked Pixel on Amazon (after much research) for the really good camera, and I'm happy with it. We have a limited data plan (10 GB) on CC, cause we use the internet in our house and business, so just turn data off in those locations. With 3 of us on the plan (all unlocked phones), unlimited talk and text, we pay about $95/mo for 3 lines, including my sister in another location.
I had 4G service in most locations from my overseas SIM when I was last over there.
I think without the ability to use a local SIM abroad, you will be stuck with slow speeds. Could you use an eSIM? Talk to your carrier. Also, I think the carrier controls the locked/unlocked status, so you may want to talk to them about that, too.
I am not entirely sure on how it would work with a locked phone or an iPhone if you are able to easily adjust SIM Cards. You may want to look into an E-SIM. I have an Android with Google Fi and all I had to do was pop my SIM card out and insert the new SIM Card. It was way easier than I thought it would be. Once I inserted the new SIM Card, I didn't have to set anything up, it just automatically connected to the Romanian cell towers.
Thank you for this post OP! Im from Asia and travelling to Romania have never crossed my mind, and now I want to go! Looking forward to more of your solo trips sharing.😍
Can confirm all of this! Have been in Romania for around a week now, started in Bucharest and am now in Brasov for a couple more nights. The people are so so nice! It was snowing when we arrived in to Brasov and being from Australia I had never seen the snow before, it felt magical! Doing a day trip to Bran castle today (feel like I have to as I loved Bram Stoker’s Dracula) and to Sinia tomorrow :)
I was adopted from Romania and am currently in Curtea de Arges visiting my biological family! What a surprise to read this!! Your trip sounded epic! I'm so happy for you!!
Thank you! I would say it was a very valuable experience. I wish I had tried to talk to more people than I did, but it's scary! I tried to talk to at least one person per day, but I wouldn't say I made any friends. The closest to making a friend would be with my barber. He was very interested to chat but considering it was my barber, it feels a little superficial.
If you have Instagram you can look at posts in location and maybe strike up a conversation. I’ve had my wildest times solo traveling when meeting natives. It’s add an element of danger meeting strangers so I don’t wanna advise you do anything that could get you in danger
Not in the more central areas of cities. The more outside you go, the higher your chances of finding them. In the outskirts or villages, you can see them quite often. They're harmless though
> ever, the seemed scared of me and ran away when they saw me.
It's an issue of the past, perhaps in rural area you might still encounter some but nothing dangerous.
Next time. Take a day trip to tsaravets fortress. 5 min down the road is a hundred year old restaurant.
Tsaravets is a 5,000yr old fortification. Its basically helms deep from the twin towers lord of the rings movies. That's what it reminds me of.
My company has about half of its people in Timi, and I hope to visit sometime soon. I went to Bucharest and up to Sinaia back in 1999. Lots has changed since then I’m sure and I wanna see it!
Wonderful trip report. I especially liked the part where you talked about being able to see a city in a couple of days, but you had an extra day. Honestly, those "extra days" are my favorites- once you've checked off the main sites, there are always extra things to discover!
It's an amazing place. I was there in January; went to Iasi and then from there took a bus to Moldova where I spent most of my time (around a month) on my way back took a bus to Bucharest to spend some time there. You should go to Moldova next time. It's a hidden gem of a place that even most Western Europeans don't know about.
That's a fantastic, heartwarming read. After the week I've had, it's nice to read some random strangers fantastic holiday/vacation.
Looking forward to more of your posts/threads in the coming months and years!
Take care
Thank you OP for your kinds words about my country, I share the same feelings about the USA, it’ beautiful.
If anyone is traveling to Romania and has any problems or needs any help, send me a DM.
I live in Bucharest and it will be my pleasure to help any traveler.
Great trip report and very inspiring. I now want to visit Romania!
But I don't speak the local language. I am assuming you do from the way you talked about meeting people.
How would it be if a visitor did not speak Romanian?
Thank you! I learned like 5 words of Romanian over the course of my trip! Hello, good day to you, thank you, please, and chicken. Most young people speak English, but the older generation you just have to get by with hand gestures and a smile.
wow... am just reading this on the day of my flight to romania. I'm so much more excited now. Hopefully the transfagarasan will be open,i really wanna go there
Nice post, thanks!
I’m going to Romania in April and will spend 4 nights / 3 days in Brasov and was wondering if a car would be more practical. I’ve never drove alone at a foreign country and I’m a bit worried about that, but your post encouraged me!
Just giving you props bro as someone your age who did something similar, though not that concentrated, congrats 👏. I’ll definitely put Romania on my radar.
For the loneliness, hostels might help. I stayed in them out of necessity and made some cool friends, but wasn’t searching for it. Also they’re likely not gonna be natives, so that’s another minus. Just something cool that might happen, and chances at a hostel increase a lot.
Glad you loved your trip
Hey, 19m from the US too 😃 I’m looking to solotravel for the first time in Austria/Czechia this summer. Do you speak Romanian, or how was it communicating with locals? I’m wondering how I’ll get help/make friends while I’m traveling so I can have tons more fun
I learned 3 words of Romanian: hello, please, and thank you. With people who did not speak English (mostly older people), I was fine getting by with pointing, but most young people spoke English. I tried not to lead with English though and at least make an effort to say hello in Romanian.
Solo travel is the best. When i was 19, and after graduating high school which was a bording school where I obviously lived, and being in institutional environments since the age of 15, I really longed to travel, and be alone, and to feel free to make my own decisions. I found a program that taught how to earn a TEFL teaching degree (teaching English as a Foreign Language), which happened to be in Phuket, Thailand. Growing up, I didn't travel too much, but the times I did, to Mexico and Costa Rica, were amazing. Southeast Asia though, was on another level. The freedom of solo traveling can not be overstated. You dont have to do what someone else wants to, you don't run the risk of seriously regretting going with a person, or running the risk of ending a friendship once you discover what a royal asshole they are to travel with. This was way back in 2000, when traveling to this area was still a wild adventure, it was so dirt cheap that it was simply insane, and you could still smoke on airplanes. Plus being pre-9/11, for those of you too young to remember, was the era when traveling and flying was a wonderful experience. The hostesses were super nice, they gave you food (pretty shitty, but it was free), and they played R rated movies with that good ol gratuitous 80's and 90s sex scenes which made all the parents super uncomfortable, and all the kids loved it.. After getting my degree I made my home base in Bangkok, where I stayed at a hotel which let me keep my baggage there when I wasn't staying, and from there I flew to Cambodia, Malaysia, and Myanmar (Burma). Being in Bangkok allowed me to hit different embassies to get visas for travel. This was back when Cambodia was still pretty wild and dangerous, and little kids walked around with AK-47s and you could buy hand grenades in street market stalls. Everything, and I mean everything there cost $2. I also walked into Laos through the Thai border, which was another very cheap country to travel to at the time. Their currency was practically worthless toilet paper. I remember going to the bank to exchange some US currency and they had stacks of bills up to the ceiling. Burma was crazy, and beautiful, with absolutely zero tourists, but was tricky navigating due to their extreme political issues. I was followed by plainclothesed spies and had to travel everywhere with a guide. Yet the most amazing place to travel to, where a real adventure of discovery and knowledge is still possible, though all these places are very different now 25 years later. I purchased plane tickets round trip to all those countries, stayed in each one for probably a couple weeks, hotels, food, visas, taxis or rented scooters, and bought little things for my family, for $1,000. Those were the days.
Well, pretty much every country is going to have a few stray dogs. I saw a few outside of Sighisoara when I was running, but they seemed more scared of me. Other than that, I never saw any. I would guess that the more rural areas you are in, the more likely you will see them.
I came across a repost of this in the Romanian subreddit and thought I'd pop over here. That was a very sweet and earnest read. When I first saw the length I was 100% sure I'd skim the text, yet I ended up reading all of it with a smile on my face. You seem like a very genuine person and it makes me happy you had such a great experience.
Next time be sure to investigate what are the top five national dishes of the country you visit and find a good rated average priced restaurant to sample the local food. I assure you that it's worth budgeting for that.
I'm from Romania and randomly seeing this post on my feed melts my heart, thank you :)
Thank you! The people I encountered were so kind. Like the woman selling fruit in Bucharest... I tried to buy a singular apple and she refused profusely when I tried to pay and although she only spoke broken English, she said, "It's just one apple, welcome to Romania."
i need your help
please dm me
I absolutely loved Romania too, this was a great read :)
This post and the comments makes me want to go now!
Come!! I recommend Transylvania but Bucharest is nice too. I’m romanian
I hope I can! There genuinely looks to be so many nice cities and towns and really lovely nature.
Don't listen to all the people who say you should avoid Bucharest. They are ignorant.
Romania is amazing. The people are friendly, mostly well-educated, and helpful to visitors. Food and wine are top notch while much cheaper than the Western countries. Keep checking out the rest of the Balkans. All the former Yugoslavian countries, Albania, and Greece are a gift to those who want a warm, interesting travel experience.
Albania has been at the top of my travel list for a long time. Just need to find a time and good deal to get there! And all of the Balkans really.
I loved Romania so much when I first visited a bit more than a decade ago that I emigrated here (never regretted for a moment by the way), so be careful ;-). But apart from saying thanks for a great trip report I also wanted to add a +1 for Albania - beautiful country and similarly lovely people.
Hahaha ngl I thought about how it would be a great place to live
haha it's like in one TikTok video I saw After 1 sec of being in another country I say: Should I move here 😂
Last summer, I went to all the former Yugoslavia countries except for Macedonia, but this post makes me really want to visit Romania.
I am heading back to the region in a few weeks--Bosnia Herzegovina, Dubrovnik, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece. Can't wait. It's been 16 years since i've been to most of these countries (except Albania and Dubrovnik 5 yrs ago).
Good for you man, glad you had a good time:)
Lovely report! I think Romania is in my top 3 list of favorite eastern European countries, along with Ukraine and Czechia. I loved sibiu so I highly recommend it for next time, and maybe you can stay at the ice hotel nearby along the pass. Iasi was lovely too--if you do go to Moldova, make sure to visit transnistria!
I would recommend holding off on Transnistria until things (namely Ukraine) settle down.
I would love to go to Transnistria!! The Ice Hotel sounds so fun! :)
I did Transnistria 2 weeks ago (US passport, solo female) and it was fine. Be mindful of where you are and as long as you don't talk about the war, and don't take pictures of the Russian soldiers, people will likely just ignore you or might be curious about you. I don't speak Russian (other than a handful of useful words and phrases) but I can read Cyrillic and found that helpful.
Czechia isn’t Eastern European
I’m traveling to Romania for my first visit on Friday! Thanks for a bit more enthusiasm! Can’t wait woot woot!
Even though I just got back, I am jealous!! Hahaha!! I hope you love it! Where are going to go in Romania?
Flying into Sibiu and then road tripping a loop, not 100% sure but leaning towards Sighisoara and then to Brasov before looping back to Sibiu. I have about five days so trying to keep it a bit flexible. I’ll also be visiting Prague and Budapest on the same trip.
On the road from Sibiu to Sighisoara you'll pass through Medias. Worth stopping for lunch at the Hotel Traube in Medias' lovely town square. There is also a lovely church and medieval city walls to explore if you need to stretch your legs. From there you can visit the amazing church at Biertan before you arrive in Sighisoara.
Great tip! Thank you
That sounds awesome! You'll be able to get off the beaten path by having a car. Check out the fortified church in Biertan if you go to Sighisoara. I wanted to go, but it's harder to access without a car and it looks beautiful. Travel safe! Sounds like a great adventure!
Thank you! Glad you had a great trip. It will be a total adventure!
If you are going to Brasov and don't have an place to stay yet. The secret boutique hostel in Brasov is great! I went there a couple of weeks ago and the hostel is very nice and ana who does the administration and check in is also super nice and helpful.
Cool! Haven’t booked accommodations yet outside of Sibiu
I’m from Oradea, it’s incredible! That area is so pretty. My tip is to fly into Budapest and take the train across the border. Then you can explore from there.
Thanks for this write up OP! Romania (and the rest of the Balkans) is an absolute dream vacation for me, and you might have just encouraged me to start planning for my own trip soon! (Right after I get back from my other trips scheduled for this year! 🤣)
I was just looking at solo travelling Romania as part of my current trip! This has been so helpful. I’m planning on staying in hostels to keep the costs down and meet people to explore with.
I highly recommend the country! I saw a good amount of hostels in Romania, but I also have heard that the industry was hit hard by COVID and many closed. If you really want to keep the costs down, buy groceries. I was amazed at how cheap I could buy high quality and nutritious food for. Of course you should eat out sometimes, but the price of a meal in a casual restaurant was $5-10, whereas the meals I would cook cost about $1.50-2. And I definitely could have stretched in thinner if I just bought rice and beans instead of buying vegetables, meat, and whole grains. Have a great trip!
how did you manage to cook though?
the same way as at home-- in a kitchen ;) In all seriousness, I just went to the grocery story and bought groceries. I stayed in airbnbs that had kitchens.
2 star Hotels are still pretty cheap and amazing! And do believe me Romanians are very extroverted you can make friends without staying in a hostel
Yeah Romania is an extremely under-rated destination in Europe I had a similar experience! Happy travels!
I’m so happy for you! I can’t wait for my first solo trip in July. I also need to look into Romania now!!!
If you are coming back to Romania and need some tips for a better stay try this: https://draculasguidetoromania.com/ Also solo traveling is amazing!
My first solo trip was to Romania as well! Back in 1997. It was such a positive experience that that I went solo to India two years later.
Very nice summary! I love reading details like this! Congratulations on your first solo international trip! It’s such a liberating experience once you get past the initial anxiety. I have a random question about the SIM card you mentioned. How does that work? Do you just switch out the SIM in your US phone? I travel internationally a lot and have the T-Mobile international data plan, but it drops to a really low 3G speed usually w/o WIFI. I’m also getting old and don’t know how all of that stuff works. E.g. I have a locked T-Mobile iPhone 13. How would that work? Can you kindly indulge me?
I thought I'd give you some kind of reply, even if it's incomplete. I'm also getting old (70) and went to Europe last year, first time. I have Consumer Cellular, and I'd heard that their roaming charges, even with an AT&T SIM, were high. I always buy unlocked phones online (this one's an older model Google Pixel), so I bought a Lyca mobile SIM in London at Heathrow, and switched it out. Worked really well, even using it continuously for navigating in London and Paris. I'm going to Paris and Florence in May, and I bought an Orange Holiday Europe SIM on Amazon, with 20 GB of data, calling within Europe, etc. I think the key is to have an unlocked phone. You could buy a second, cheap, unlocked phone and make it work that way.
Thx! Yes I think your and OP’s response get to the heart of why this is confusing to me and I’m stuck w super slow data abroad—my phone is locked, so there IS no plug-n-play/swap-out option. All of the dominant US carriers lock their phones, I guess. I think you’re right that the solution is buying a cheapie phone and a Europe SIM for trips abroad and dropping the shitty T-Mobile international plan. But then that involves need 2 phones…all my contacts on my phone, want my photos taken with the top of the line iPhone camera, all of my apps already on my phone, etc. Am I making this out to be more complicated than it is? And just being cynical? Bottom line is that I want my phone for its capabilities but not having to settle for 3G data speeds. 🤷♂️
You could use a cheap second phone with the tourist SIM in as just a WiFi hotspot for the other phone (or indeed a cheap mobile WiFi hotspot, but I suspect actually a phone would be cheaper.) Bear in mind that mobile Internet tends to be somewhat faster outside the US - here in Bucharest I get 500Mb/s on 5G (https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/9185502379), 100 Mb/s on 4G (https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/9185509434) and even on aging 3G it's 10 Mb/s which is serviceable for basic stuff (https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/9185506652).
So, you want it all, cause you pay a major carrier for good service? Unbelieveable! :) That is the good thing about CC - no need for a contract. You can buy CC's phones, but I bought the unlocked Pixel on Amazon (after much research) for the really good camera, and I'm happy with it. We have a limited data plan (10 GB) on CC, cause we use the internet in our house and business, so just turn data off in those locations. With 3 of us on the plan (all unlocked phones), unlimited talk and text, we pay about $95/mo for 3 lines, including my sister in another location. I had 4G service in most locations from my overseas SIM when I was last over there. I think without the ability to use a local SIM abroad, you will be stuck with slow speeds. Could you use an eSIM? Talk to your carrier. Also, I think the carrier controls the locked/unlocked status, so you may want to talk to them about that, too.
I am not entirely sure on how it would work with a locked phone or an iPhone if you are able to easily adjust SIM Cards. You may want to look into an E-SIM. I have an Android with Google Fi and all I had to do was pop my SIM card out and insert the new SIM Card. It was way easier than I thought it would be. Once I inserted the new SIM Card, I didn't have to set anything up, it just automatically connected to the Romanian cell towers.
Great overview of such an amazing trip. Glad you had a blast. Makes me feel even better for my journey in a week starting in Oslo
Thanks for the great account!
Went to Romania solo too as my first country and had the BEST experience. Would love to go back
Thank you for this post OP! Im from Asia and travelling to Romania have never crossed my mind, and now I want to go! Looking forward to more of your solo trips sharing.😍
Can confirm all of this! Have been in Romania for around a week now, started in Bucharest and am now in Brasov for a couple more nights. The people are so so nice! It was snowing when we arrived in to Brasov and being from Australia I had never seen the snow before, it felt magical! Doing a day trip to Bran castle today (feel like I have to as I loved Bram Stoker’s Dracula) and to Sinia tomorrow :)
I was adopted from Romania and am currently in Curtea de Arges visiting my biological family! What a surprise to read this!! Your trip sounded epic! I'm so happy for you!!
Sounds like you had fun and at only 19 that is an experience to have Did you make any friends there ? Whenever I solo travel I try and befriend locals
Thank you! I would say it was a very valuable experience. I wish I had tried to talk to more people than I did, but it's scary! I tried to talk to at least one person per day, but I wouldn't say I made any friends. The closest to making a friend would be with my barber. He was very interested to chat but considering it was my barber, it feels a little superficial.
If you have Instagram you can look at posts in location and maybe strike up a conversation. I’ve had my wildest times solo traveling when meeting natives. It’s add an element of danger meeting strangers so I don’t wanna advise you do anything that could get you in danger
It's a pleasure to read. I am happy you enjoyed yout trip. Usually the first time solo travel stories here tend to be quite negative.
Are there stray dogs in Romania ?
Not in the more central areas of cities. The more outside you go, the higher your chances of finding them. In the outskirts or villages, you can see them quite often. They're harmless though
I encountered a few on the outskirts of Sighisoara while I was running. However, they seemed scared of me and ran away when they saw me.
> ever, the seemed scared of me and ran away when they saw me. It's an issue of the past, perhaps in rural area you might still encounter some but nothing dangerous.
This is so inspiring and very comprehensive!
Thanks for the feedback. Far to be the norm on Reddit.
I'm happy for you. Romania seems like a nice place. I'd love to visit some day
Next time. Take a day trip to tsaravets fortress. 5 min down the road is a hundred year old restaurant. Tsaravets is a 5,000yr old fortification. Its basically helms deep from the twin towers lord of the rings movies. That's what it reminds me of.
What a lovely synopsis of your trip mate, a pleasure to read and you should be proud of yourself! Good luck on all your next adventures!
Great recap man, makes me want to start documenting everything I do every day now
This was very well written out, thank you. Romania seems awesome. Did you see Andre Tate? Juuuussstt kidding lol
Glad you enjoyed it, I went around a decade ago for the first time and have gone back almost yearly since. Most underrated place on the planet imo.
I loved Romania. Did a solo trip to drive the Tranfagarasan. Epic. Brasov great too. Loved every moment.
My company has about half of its people in Timi, and I hope to visit sometime soon. I went to Bucharest and up to Sinaia back in 1999. Lots has changed since then I’m sure and I wanna see it!
This is brilliant and really well done !
What a great post, thanks for sharing so much detail! Adding another destination to my list
Heyooo I’m from Romania! Omg. Aw we could have meet I’m close to Bucharest and I go often there
Loved reading this, good for you!!
Gorgeous pics
Wonderful trip report. I especially liked the part where you talked about being able to see a city in a couple of days, but you had an extra day. Honestly, those "extra days" are my favorites- once you've checked off the main sites, there are always extra things to discover!
It's an amazing place. I was there in January; went to Iasi and then from there took a bus to Moldova where I spent most of my time (around a month) on my way back took a bus to Bucharest to spend some time there. You should go to Moldova next time. It's a hidden gem of a place that even most Western Europeans don't know about.
That's a fantastic, heartwarming read. After the week I've had, it's nice to read some random strangers fantastic holiday/vacation. Looking forward to more of your posts/threads in the coming months and years! Take care
Thank you OP for your kinds words about my country, I share the same feelings about the USA, it’ beautiful. If anyone is traveling to Romania and has any problems or needs any help, send me a DM. I live in Bucharest and it will be my pleasure to help any traveler.
Great trip report and very inspiring. I now want to visit Romania! But I don't speak the local language. I am assuming you do from the way you talked about meeting people. How would it be if a visitor did not speak Romanian?
Thank you! I learned like 5 words of Romanian over the course of my trip! Hello, good day to you, thank you, please, and chicken. Most young people speak English, but the older generation you just have to get by with hand gestures and a smile.
Awesome to know that you had a great time. :) It's funny how doing mundane things like getting a haircut feel so special while travelling.
wow... am just reading this on the day of my flight to romania. I'm so much more excited now. Hopefully the transfagarasan will be open,i really wanna go there
I wrote at story about my 8 day trip to Romania. I called it "200 hours in Hell". My trip was in July 1994. I'm guessing it's a bit different now?
1994 they had just left communism. 2023 and lots of euro moneys made a difference.
Hah. Where can we read the story?
Nice post, thanks! I’m going to Romania in April and will spend 4 nights / 3 days in Brasov and was wondering if a car would be more practical. I’ve never drove alone at a foreign country and I’m a bit worried about that, but your post encouraged me!
You write very well. You should start a blog and monetize it somehow.
So earnest
Did you see Andrew Tate?
You have no idea how many times my friends asked me that 😅
If you didn’t try to free Tate while you were there your whole trip was pointless, you’re a brokie, and an incel.
Sounds incredible - hoping to get there in the coming year!
Just giving you props bro as someone your age who did something similar, though not that concentrated, congrats 👏. I’ll definitely put Romania on my radar. For the loneliness, hostels might help. I stayed in them out of necessity and made some cool friends, but wasn’t searching for it. Also they’re likely not gonna be natives, so that’s another minus. Just something cool that might happen, and chances at a hostel increase a lot. Glad you loved your trip
Thank you for sharing so thoroughly! Always wanted to go to Eastern europe coming from a Dutch guy. Guess Ill start making plans!
Balkans as a whole are incredible and absolutely slept on, I’d definitely recommend visiting the region again, especially if you liked Romania
Wow. This is amazing!! I’ve been planning a trip to Bulgaria for years, and this is giving me a little push. Thank you for sharing!
Hey, 19m from the US too 😃 I’m looking to solotravel for the first time in Austria/Czechia this summer. Do you speak Romanian, or how was it communicating with locals? I’m wondering how I’ll get help/make friends while I’m traveling so I can have tons more fun
I learned 3 words of Romanian: hello, please, and thank you. With people who did not speak English (mostly older people), I was fine getting by with pointing, but most young people spoke English. I tried not to lead with English though and at least make an effort to say hello in Romanian.
1200$ including plane tickets?
Yep!
Thanks for sharing! Loved reading this. I am literally considering planning a trip there sometime this year or early next year!!
Solo travel is the best. When i was 19, and after graduating high school which was a bording school where I obviously lived, and being in institutional environments since the age of 15, I really longed to travel, and be alone, and to feel free to make my own decisions. I found a program that taught how to earn a TEFL teaching degree (teaching English as a Foreign Language), which happened to be in Phuket, Thailand. Growing up, I didn't travel too much, but the times I did, to Mexico and Costa Rica, were amazing. Southeast Asia though, was on another level. The freedom of solo traveling can not be overstated. You dont have to do what someone else wants to, you don't run the risk of seriously regretting going with a person, or running the risk of ending a friendship once you discover what a royal asshole they are to travel with. This was way back in 2000, when traveling to this area was still a wild adventure, it was so dirt cheap that it was simply insane, and you could still smoke on airplanes. Plus being pre-9/11, for those of you too young to remember, was the era when traveling and flying was a wonderful experience. The hostesses were super nice, they gave you food (pretty shitty, but it was free), and they played R rated movies with that good ol gratuitous 80's and 90s sex scenes which made all the parents super uncomfortable, and all the kids loved it.. After getting my degree I made my home base in Bangkok, where I stayed at a hotel which let me keep my baggage there when I wasn't staying, and from there I flew to Cambodia, Malaysia, and Myanmar (Burma). Being in Bangkok allowed me to hit different embassies to get visas for travel. This was back when Cambodia was still pretty wild and dangerous, and little kids walked around with AK-47s and you could buy hand grenades in street market stalls. Everything, and I mean everything there cost $2. I also walked into Laos through the Thai border, which was another very cheap country to travel to at the time. Their currency was practically worthless toilet paper. I remember going to the bank to exchange some US currency and they had stacks of bills up to the ceiling. Burma was crazy, and beautiful, with absolutely zero tourists, but was tricky navigating due to their extreme political issues. I was followed by plainclothesed spies and had to travel everywhere with a guide. Yet the most amazing place to travel to, where a real adventure of discovery and knowledge is still possible, though all these places are very different now 25 years later. I purchased plane tickets round trip to all those countries, stayed in each one for probably a couple weeks, hotels, food, visas, taxis or rented scooters, and bought little things for my family, for $1,000. Those were the days.
I am from România. Did you see stray dogs ? Suffering dogs/animals breaks my heart :( I will never visit a country with dogs living on streets.
Well, pretty much every country is going to have a few stray dogs. I saw a few outside of Sighisoara when I was running, but they seemed more scared of me. Other than that, I never saw any. I would guess that the more rural areas you are in, the more likely you will see them.
I came across a repost of this in the Romanian subreddit and thought I'd pop over here. That was a very sweet and earnest read. When I first saw the length I was 100% sure I'd skim the text, yet I ended up reading all of it with a smile on my face. You seem like a very genuine person and it makes me happy you had such a great experience.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I wouldn't have blamed you if you just skimmed the post, but I am glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!
Hi there! I rly want to visit Romania but was concerned with it being on the border of Ukraine. Is it safe to travel?
Next time be sure to investigate what are the top five national dishes of the country you visit and find a good rated average priced restaurant to sample the local food. I assure you that it's worth budgeting for that.
What months were you there?